Curtain drying rack



A a-i122, 1941. M. E. DECKER CURTAIN DRYING RACK Filed March 29, 1939 INVENTOR, Nam-1N E. DEC

ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 22, 1941 OFFICE CURTAIN DRYING RACK Martin E. Decker, Cortland, N. Y. Application March 29, 1939, Serial No. 264,680

6 Claims. (Cl. 45-24) This invention relates to a simple rack for stretching wet lace curtains, draperies or the like long sheets of fabric, and more particularly has to do with an upright framework of the knockdown type provided with a series of parallelly disposed rollers over which newly starched curtainlike goods may be hung in stabilized suspension and made taut by the use of a pair of depending equipollent weighted ends, said curtain being left to dry on said rack into a smoothly stiffened condition while subjected to such counterpoised stretch. My novel stretching treatment is such that the opposed curtain side edges are without need of any edge retaining stick pins, kept substantially rectilinear and free from objectionable primary edge scallops that sag inwardly after the dried curtain is removed from said rack. Said rackstructure is also designed to simultaneously handle a plurality of superimposed curtains of different widths and lengths, and to compactly collapse the roller supporting frame ends into small space when not in use or while being transported.

A set of three horizontal rollers suffices for present requirements when corresponding roller ends are arranged in triangular pattern to comprise a centralized top roller laterally spaced alongside opposed auxiliary rollers, all such rollers being freely pivoted to cooperatively rotate in unison in either direction when an initially wet curtain is tangentially hung .thereover. My top roller is preferably mounted intermediate the auxiliary side rollers and the respective curtain ends weighted by separate loading bars in order that the span distance along the curtain side edges may be'broken up and held within restricted length limits. Should a wet curtain be vertically suspended fiatwise in a single span from its top end alone and loaded at the lower end, it tends to scallop abnormally atits respective long side edges and when dry, diverge excessively from straight lined parallelism. I have determined by tests that the resulting edge sag can be proportionately reduced and readily held within negligible confines by distributing such full curtain lengths into relatively .shorter. or fractionate roller supported curtain lengths.

In addition, both of my loading bars may be given an arched or arcuate edge contour whereby the curtain side edges may be stretched to a somewhat greater degree than the medial region lying therebetween. While thus 'tensioned, the epend ng curtain ends are at the same time k p w de spaced apar to facilitate award air circulation through such tentlike hood shape and thereby promote rapid curtain drying.

A further novel structural feature underlying my improved rack consists in being able to suspend an initially wet curtain in a reasonably even condition over a series of cooperative rollers, then by repeatedly reciprocating the weighting bars in window shade fashion, the laid wet curtain will take on and of itself find a substantially uniform width appropriate for drying. The loading bars are bodily movable with the curtain while the curtain is being prerolled. The starched curtain is intended to remain suspended on the frame under bar loading until it becomes thoroughly dry, whereupon the whole of the finished curtain will be rendered perfectly smooth and devoid of inordinate edge sag.

Theobject of my invention is to provide for a simple and effective curtain stretching rack of the character indicated, particularly one in which the curtain sustaining rollers are stabilized by the use of counterpoised bar weights against unwanted rotation while leaving a suspended curtain to dry thereon, and to afford a household article that may be economically fabricatedand profitably marketed in volume through chain store agencies or the like wholesale dealers.

Reference is had to the accompanying one sheet of drawings illustrative of a preferred embodiment and in which:

Fig. 1. is an elevational end view of a 'rack frame equipped with my improved devices including an applied curtain, and Fig. 2 is a side view thereof.

Fig. 3 represents a folded side View of said frame after its curtain and several rollers have been dismounted.

Fig. 4fragmentally shows a roller end in perspectlve, while Fig. 5 depicts certain frame details.

Fig. :6 exemplifies irons. 1

Referring more specifically tosuch disclosure, my skeletonized rack preferably comprises collapsible twin standards or erect end frame components which may each include a pair of wooden or metal inverter V-shaped legs Ill and II of which the respective upper converging ends may be Divotally interconnected at l2 and [3 by an exteriorly disposed bracket plate 14. One such leg may be fixedly attached to its plate by an additional screw fastener as indicated at 12'. An upstand vllwl'ection of each bracket plate may be forked to constitute the socket 1.5 for the one of my curtain loading reception of a roller trunnion. The aligned interior leg faces may be further spanned by a reenforcing strap I6 (see Fig. the pivotal arrangement being such that said legs may be collapsed toward each other in the Fig. 3 manner.

A metal cross bar I! (see Fig. 1) may be secured to each pair of mated frame legs intermediate the length thereof by the pivotal rivet l8 and a thumb screw 19. The respective extremities of each such cross bar may be provided with an upturned trunnion receiving slot that is preferably inclined as shown. In order to facilitate collapse, the thumb nut l9 may be loosened to allow said cross bar to swing through its dotted position into axial alignment with its adjoined frame leg.

As detailed in Fig. 2, the floor contacting frame end regions may be interconnected between the leg pivots 2l and 22 by a foldable type of tie strut of which the sections 23 and 24 are shown pivotally jointed at 25 and provided-with a locking stop lug 26 in rule-joint fashion. Similarly jointed corner braces such as 21 extend from each tie section to a continuous frame leg, these lateral brace units being arranged to fold upwardly in the arrowed direction in a simulated lazy-tong manner. Said corner braces serve to stabilize the erected frame legs against lateral tilt. While only one set of tie struts are shown applied to corresponding legs, an additional strut may likewise extend between the remaining frame legs. Pivoted to each such corresponding leg beneath the interconnecting tie strut level, I may provide'for arest bar 28 that is fulcrumed at 29. When unfolded into a stop position, the respective rest bars alignedly project outwardly beyond their leg confines (see Fig. 1).

Three substantially identical rollers comprising a relatively stiff cylindrical top roller 3| and a pair of like auxiliary side rollers 32 and 33, may have each end thereof provided with an independent trunnion such as 34. .Said similar rollers are preferably made of Wood having a headed metal screw axially inserted into their respective ends (see. Fig. 4), although the same rotative mounting may be accomplished by equivalent trunnion means. When assembled, corresponding ends of the cooperating rollers arev preferably disposed in triangular relation in the Fig. 1 manner, the top roller being centrally interposed between and above a pair of widely spread or straddling auxiliary rollers. The, axial pitch distance between my severalrollers is preferably kept substantially uniform and made equal to an aliquot component of the overall curtain length.

The top roller trunnions are demountably entered into the respective platesockets l5, while the side roller trunnions are mounted to freely rotate in their respective inclined bar slots 20, all such trunnions being of the free rolling .type that will obviate undue stretching of the applied curtain. When collapsed, the jointed lazy-tong tie strut permits the end frames to fold into their Fig. 3 position wherein such structure when placed alongside its dismantled rollers, may be compactlystored or crated'for shipment.

Having described the rack frame structure, further reference to Figs. 1 and 2 will make clear its functional behavior. The medial length portion of a wet curtain 40 maybe suspended over the top roller 3| with its depending end portions spread apart into cooperative tangential relation to both auxiliary side'rollers 32 and 3d beltlike fashion, as shown. The respective ends' of said curtain are usually furnished with hems and a separate weighting bar 4| of metal each weighing approximately 1 pounds, may be threaded through each such transverse hem 42 and- 43. Such equalized loading bars are purposely kept substantially counterpoised in stable equilibrium so as to obviate unassisted actuation of the multiple rollers that collectively uphold a drying curtain. Should the respective curtain ends not be hemmed, they can be temporarily basted or the bar similarly fastened; 4

' To facilitate the hanging of a starched Wet curtain, the weighting bars may first be overhangingly inserted through their respective hems. One such bar may provisionally be spanningly upheld upon the pair of outstanding rest bars 28, whereupon the other bar may be conveniently swung over the top bar by a single operator to.

centrally suspend the curtain in place for drying. It will be observed that said side rollers are disposed to support a substantial portion of the bar loadi-ng. By now manually reciprocating the suspended loading; bars up and down in succession, my rollers serve to initially smooth out wrinkles as a virtual ironing operation and the tensioned curtain may at the same time be caused to assume a proper even width suitable for drying without the use of any edge retaining pins. The proper handling of the curtain is partly dependent upon the character of fabric being stretched for drying and in some instances may require slight edgewise hand adjustment to bring the curtain into a most favorable drying condition. Because the span between roller centers is herein kept comparatively short, the tendency to magnifythe primary curtain edge scallop or sag. as at S, will naturally be correspondingly reduced relative to a longer span stretch.1

My flat loading bars are preferably but not necessarily bent edgewise or arched into the crown offset marked 0 (see Fig. 6) whereby to exert a dominating countersag stretch along the respective curtain'edges similar in manner to thatutilized to mitigate sag drop for a pole suspended transmission cable. When this underlying principle is employed in combination with the described prerolling feature, the curtain when dry, can be made to present a substantially rectilinear side edge and ends that are rendered free from any pronounced scallop. It will be apparent that essentially only one such bar needs to be arched to bring about a like result; also that in certain instances, it may prove expedient by reversal, to head'the bar crown away, from the suspended medial curtain region, particularly where torn curtains are to be stretched. In addition, the life of such yieldably tensioned curtain will be preserved because of being devoid of edgewise pin stretching and a localized shrink ing away therefrom.

" Iffdesired, "additional curtains such as 44 may be successively superimposed upon each other, in which event it'isp'referred to place the widest curtain underneath and individually manipulate the same to find its proper overall edge Width prior to prerolling other curtains thereon. For best results, all curtain supporting rollers should be accurately aligned to'freely rotate in unison in either direction. Their cooperative function is to assist in "initially smoothing out the wet curtain fabric while being reciprocatively prerolled under tension, also to reduce the span distances between such upholding members until the starched lace curtain becomes thoroughly dry and set, after which it may be hung for decorative use.

For extra long curtains or where the natural edge sag S is to be held within still closer limits,

supplementary pairs of auxiliary rollers similar to 32 and 33 and separate'brace bars therefor (not shown), may be likewise installed as a constituent of my framework. It will be apparent that the more heavily loaded top roller in particular should be free moving, otherwise the curtain would tend to stick to the roller surface and offer excessive drag as applied to present needs. As an alternative, single or plural auxiliary rollers may likewise be mounted wholly to one side of the top roller.

As devised, my stretching treatment has in practice been found to be inherently rapid in that the curtain is essentially self-adjusting as to proper edge width and the provision for adequate ventilation hastens the drying thereof. It will be evident that by virtue of my depending end weights, my prerolled wet curtain tends to automatically spread itself lengthwise along the several rollers into a proper wrinkle-free condition without need of any other spread manipulation. The complementary side rollers materially facilitate the placing of curtains on the stretcher frame and in quickly smoothing out a suspended curtain prior to drying. Because of the absence of the conventional stick pins, my rack is adapted to quickly and effectively handle all curtain widths falling within its roller length capacity, all the respective longitudinal edges thereof being kept free from abnormal long span primary sag and also from short span secondary scallops suchas usually result from localized sidewise stretch by the use of edge retaining pins. Furthermore, the closely distributed roller loading leaves no marked evidence on the removed curtain of having been roller supported and dried under tension.

The preceding disclosure will, it is believed, make apparent to those skilled in this art, the advantages afforded by my improved mode of curtain stretching. While the specification has primarily been directed to a particular type of frame stretcher, it is not the intent to imply a corresponding restriction in the wider application of its underlying structural principle, it being understood that various changes in such illustrative embodiment may be resorted to Without departing from. the spirit and scope of my invention heretofore described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A curtain drying rack comprising laterally spaced frame components each including a pair of legs whose corresponding terminal regions are pivotally connected by bracket plate means having a trunnion socket, foldable interconnecting strut means of the jointed type retaining said frame components in erect position, a top roller mounted in said sockets, mated cross bars respectively disposed to bridge the legs of each frame component intermediate the length of the legs thereof, the respective end regions of each such bar being provided with a trunnion socket, and an auxiliary roller mounted between each pair of corresponding bar sockets to freely rotate therein in either direction, the respective rollers being disposed in substantial axial parallelism with the top roller in triangular cndwise relationship.

2. A curtain drying rack comprising laterally spaced frame components each including a pair of legs whose corresponding terminal regions are pivotally connected by bracket plate means having a trunnionsocket, interconnecting strut means retaining said frame components in erect position, a top roller mounted in said sockets, mated cross bars respectively disposed to bridge the legs of each frame component intermediate the length of the legs thereof, the respective end regions of each such bar being provided with a trunnion socket, an auxiliary roller mounted between each pair of corresponding bar sockets to freely rotate therein in either direction, the respective rollers being disposed in substantial axial parallelism with the top roller, and a rest bar for the floor contacting region of each frame component.

3. In a drying rack, curtain upholding means arranged to have the medial curtain part suspended thereover to include opposed depending transverse curtain ends, and substantially equipollent weighting bars respectively attached to a different curtain end, the shape of one such bar being longitudinally arched.

4. A drying rack comprising a plurality of axially spaced rollers freely trunnioned in substantial parallelism at approximately uniform pitch distances to cooperatively rotate in unison in either direction and. which rollers conjointly uphold and reciprocatively mount an initially wet elongated fabric sheet whose medial length region is suspended tangentially over all of said rollers, said sheet having transverse ends that respectively depend from the outermost rollers, and a pair of equipollent weighting bars respectively carried at each depending fabric end and which counterpoised bars remain in stable equilibrium in all reciprocative travel positions.

5. A curtain drying rack comprising a freely mounted to-p roller serving to reciprocatively suspend thereon the medial length region of an initially wet curtain including opposed depending transverse ends, a pair of auxiliary rollers cooperatively mounted in substantial axial parallelism beneath said top roller in spaced triangular endwise relation and respectively serving to uphold said curtain conjo-intly with the top roller, and mated equipollent weighting bars respectively carried at each depending curtain end and which counterpoised bars remain in stabilized equilibrium irrespective of the relative level of the depending curtain ends.

6. A curtain drying rack comprising a series of axially spaced rollers freely trunnioned in substantial parallelism at approximately uniform pitch distances to cooperatively rotate in unison in either direction and which rollers collectively serve to uphold and reciprocatively mount a plurality of wet curtains that are tangentially suspended in succession over all such rollers in superimposed flatwise relation to provide for separate depending opposed ends for each such curtain, and an independent weighting bar upheld and carried by each such depending curtain end, the bar weight upheld by any one curtain end being substantially counterpoised by the mated bar upheld at the other end of the same curtain.

MARTIN E. DECKER. 

